


It's all in the Nuts and Bolts

by Akiko_Natsuko



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Acceptance, Friendship/Love, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Missions Gone Wrong, Understanding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-15
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-08-23 05:52:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16613156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiko_Natsuko/pseuds/Akiko_Natsuko
Summary: It was just one of the many pieces of scrap that Mako kept stuffed in his pouch to reload his gun with, but to the two of them, it would always mean something more. It had been a nut, several times larger than that which had been Junkrat’s first gift to Mako.





	It's all in the Nuts and Bolts

    Many people were under the impression that Jamieson Fawkes, gave no thought to the consequences of his actions or the demands he placed on those around him, particularly his long-suffering partner. Most of the time they would be right, not because he didn’t care, but because he had learned a long time ago that it was better to live without regrets. That it was better to live life to the fullest, even if it meant being coined as reckless or even idiotic than to die with things left undone. However, there were times when he would pause and take stock when he would look at the international bounties that had been posted for their them, dead or alive and would feel a pang at seeing Mako included in the mess he had made. There were moments when he would wake up in their quarters in Gibraltar and look around, missing the hodgepodge of items they’d collected to decorate their home with before, the items they’d been forced to leave behind when they had been booted out of Junkertown.

    Then there were moments like this. As he lay sprawled behind one of the remaining walls in the building they had taken shelter in, biting down hard on his bottom lip as Mako worked with surprisingly gentle hands to bind the deep gash on his real leg where he hadn’t been quick enough to get out of the way of Talon’s covering fire. “Well this is a fine mess,” he muttered, trying to inject some cheer into the silence, but it was hard when his leg was throbbing fiercely, and in the face of the grim expression on his partner’s face. And it was grim. Many people made the mistake of thinking that because Mako was expressionless most of the time, he let everything just wash over him. And while for the most part he did, he was far from expressionless, you just had to know what to look for, and Junkrat had spent a large amount of time learning to recognise the subtlest shifts in Mako’s features.

And he was worried.

“Mako…”

“Don’t,” Mako growled, tugging the makeshift bandage tighter in warning, cutting off Junkrat’s attempts to reassure him that he was fine, pausing in his work to shoot him a dark look. “Those lies don’t work on me.”

     They had never worked on Mako, Junkrat thought wistfully, remembering how many times he had tried to pull the wool over his partner’s eyes in the early days. It had been a shock to the system to find that the tricks and lies that had got him so far in his life didn’t work on the man he had hired to protect him. At first, he had figured that was probably a good thing, that it might mean he would survive a little bit longer, not that it ever stopped him from trying. Later it had been frustrating, because at that point he hadn’t been sensitive to the shifts in Mako’s expressions, to the words that weren’t spoken because they didn’t need to be, and it had no longer been about tricking Mako, but about getting a reaction from him.

    Now, he had long since given up on the effort, knowing that Mako saw through him because he had spent so long watching him, learning his habits. At first to protect him, and later because they were friends and then some… The only time he tried nowadays were times like this, when he wanted to ease the tightening around his partner’s eyes, the worry lines that only he was privy to. However, he subsided, hearing the steel beneath Mako’s words and knowing that he wasn’t in the mood to be pushed right now, although it was a toss-up as to whether it was because of the spots of crimson already soaking through the bandage or the muffled sound of gunfire and explosions from outside.

“You need a healer,” Mako muttered, more to himself Junkrat.

“You’ve already sent the emergency code,” Junkrat pointed out, for once being the reasonable one, as he knew the restless look that had appeared on his partner’s voice. It usually came just before Mako decided to take over as the reckless one, going in all gun’s blazing and Junkrat was reluctant to let that happen here, especially when he wouldn’t be able to provide backup. “The others will be here soon.” That was a new experience for them both, as it had been a long time since they’d had anyone apart from the other man to rely on, and during the first few months, they had been hesitant to trust in the team. However, with time trust had grown on both sides and Junkrat knew they would come.

_But will it be on time?_

    He didn’t voice that thought though, because Mako had sighed and nodded, moving to sit next to him, a solid, comforting mass for him to lean against. He watched, trying to distract himself from the pain as Mako checked his gun and reloaded it, leaving it resting in his lap, ready to be fired if they were discovered before help came. A likely conclusion as Junkrat hadn’t been judicious with his use of his grenades, leaving a swathe of destruction in their wake, that would be like a giant, neon arrow pointing to where they were, but they could hope.

     They sat in silence for a few minutes, both tensing whenever a gun or explosion sounded a little too close to their position, highly aware of the odd shout that they could catch in the distance. Junkrat used the silence to watch his partner out of the corner of his eye, gnawing at his bottom lip as he spied lines that hadn’t been there before, scars from both Overwatch and their life on the run. He was very different from the former-farmer that Junkrat had first met, and while he quietness and reluctance to fight remained, he had become a deadly fighter over the years. _Did he regret it?_ In the early days, Junkrat had often caught the other man gazing longingly out over the open landscape, lingering whenever they passed through farmlands. He didn’t do it as much anymore, as though he was slowly losing touch with that part of himself.

“You could go back you know?” He asked abruptly, accurately interpreting the quiet grunt as confusion and glancing away as he explained.  “Find a farm, settle down again.” Just the thought of it had his stomach clenching unpleasantly, and he was almost tempted to just let the subject drop and pretend that he had never even asked. Instead, he forced himself to lift his head, trying not to focus on just how difficult even that simple movement had felt, or the way his vision seemed to waver for a moment as he focused on Mako.

    The other man was looking at him, forehead creased, a sign that Junkrat had managed to catch him by surprise for once, and he felt a momentary flicker of triumph. They stared at each other, Junkrat reading the questions in the subtle shifts of Mako’s expression despite his deteriorating vision and he sighed. “Not right now,” he explained, waving a hand airily, trying to keep his voice light as he added. “But when we get out of here.” _When not if,_ because Junkrat did not believe in no-win situations or rather he couldn’t afford to believe in them, not when people were trusting and depending on him for once. Not when he had to make sure Mako who should still have been happily working on his farm, made it out of this mess, even if it did mean that Junkrat would eventually be left on his own again.

Alone.

     It was more daunting than he cared to admit. Mako had been at his side for so long, that the thought of not hearing those heavy footsteps just behind him left him feeling oddly bereft and he didn’t realise that he had glanced away until warm fingers grasped his shoulder. Reluctantly he looked up, only to blink as he found Mako staring at him with an intensity that he rarely showed, before the other man slowly held something out to him and Junkrat glanced down, eyes widening.

It was a nut.

    It was just one of the many pieces of scrap that Mako kept stuffed in his pouch to reload his gun with, but to the two of them, it would always mean something more. It had been a nut, several times larger than that which had been Junkrat’s first gift to Mako, it hadn’t really been a gift, but he had noticed Mako getting frustrated as he searched through their piles of junk for the last nut he had needed to finish repairing their motorcycle. They hadn’t had one large enough, and in the end, Junkrat had snuck off to find one, returning triumphantly a few hours later… it had been his first strike in Junkertown, as he had ‘borrowed’ it from the Queen’s jeep. Still, it had been worth it as it had been the first time that he had seen Mako smile, and the first time that the other man had acted as though their messy rooms were actually home.

    He swallowed, understanding what Mako was saying, and he hesitated for a moment before reaching out and taking the nut with a shaky grin.

“I guess this means I’m stuck with you then…”


End file.
